Convert MP3 to AAC

Upload a MP3 file and get a AAC back. No signup, no watermark, no limit on how many.

Drop a MP3 file here, or click to choose one

What a MP3 file is

MP3 is the format that made portable music work, and thirty years on it is still the one every device, car stereo, DAW and browser will open without being asked twice.

Where you run into it: Downloads, podcast feeds, old music libraries, anything a client sends you and expects you to just play.

What it costs you: It throws audio away to get small, and at 320 kbps almost nobody can hear what went. What matters is that the discarded part never comes back.

What you get as AAC

AAC is MP3's designated successor and wins at low bitrates by a clear margin. A bare .aac file is the raw ADTS stream rather than the .m4a container most software expects.

Where you run into it: YouTube and streaming audio tracks, broadcast, anything that came out of a device rather than a music shop.

What it costs you: The naked .aac extension confuses a surprising amount of software, which is the usual reason people convert it.

What this conversion actually does

This is a transcode between two lossy formats, so it is a second generation: MP3 already discarded detail to get small, and AAC now encodes what is left and discards a little more. On a 320 kbps source you are unlikely to hear it. On something already thin — a voice note, a 96 kbps download — you may. Convert from the best copy you have, never from a copy of a copy.

How to convert MP3 to AAC

  1. Drop your MP3 file onto the box above, or click it and pick the file.
  2. Choose a quality if you want one — the default is the best the source can support.
  3. Press Convert. The file goes to our server, ffmpeg does the work, and the result comes straight back.
  4. Your AAC file downloads automatically. Both copies on the server are deleted as soon as the response is sent.

Frequently asked questions

Is converting MP3 to AAC free?

Yes, entirely, and there is no cap on how many files you convert. No account, no watermark, no trial.

Does converting MP3 to AAC lose quality?

A little, in principle. MP3 is already a lossy format and AAC is another one, so the audio is encoded a second time and a small amount more is discarded. From a good source it is very hard to hear; from an already-thin file it can be audible. Always convert from the best copy you have.

How big will the AAC file be?

Roughly comparable, depending on the quality you pick. At the same bitrate the two files land within a few percent of each other; drop the bitrate and the AAC gets proportionally smaller.

Can I convert AAC back to MP3?

Yes — AAC is one of the formats this converter writes, so the reverse page exists at /aac-to-mp3/. Remember that going back and forth between two lossy formats degrades the audio a little each time.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

The file is uploaded to do the conversion — nothing here runs in your browser — and both your upload and the converted result are deleted the moment the file is sent back. Nothing is stored and nothing is logged beyond the request itself.

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